Kang GURU Travels to Australia - March, 2009

Thirty Indonesian high school teachers and thirty Australian high school teachers began developing personal and direct relationships with each other in early March 2009 when the first group of 30 Indonesian participants of BRIDGE from Kalimantan, East Java, Lombok, South Sulawesi and Bali, went to Melbourne in Australia. There they followed training and partnership activities at the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) offices in the Sidney Myer Asia Centre, a part of Melbourne University.

Kang Guru was there as well. What is the Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE? It is an Australia- Indonesia project for Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement.

During the 6 day training period they worked together with their 30 Australian partners in workshop sessions on cross-cultural understanding, computer technology and even Australian history. As they all go to know each other, the 60 participants were already looking forward to setting up their sister-school relationships and learning more and more about each others culture and lifestyle. (Press Release)

Day One - March 9th
The first day of the BRIDGE trip to Australia began very early for many participants. The Bali and Lombok groups flew to Jakarta in the early morning arriving as early as 6.45. Those people had a long wait until the Qantas, Australia's International Airline, flight numbered 42 was ready to depart the terminal at 20.45. Passports were handed out along with full medical insurance to all participants before they checked into the Qantas counter. Participants cleared their fiscal payments by showing their tax cards – NPWP – no charge. Indonesians who leave the country now have to pay Rp.2,500,000 fiscal tax unless they have their NPWP card.

Some of the participants had been at the airport for a long time so it wasn’t a surprise to see participants sitting on the floor in the departure area eating rice and noodles - bungkus style. Excitement was high and participants were ready to leave on their adventure to Australia.

Finally around 20.15 they all boarded the Qantas Airbus for the 7 hour flight to Sydney. The plane was not full so there was room to move about a bit but basically people had their dinner and then slept during the night flight to the Land Down Under.

Day Two - March 10
Participants woke up high over southern Australia as the staff on the Qantas plane served fruit juice and a small breakfast snack. It was fairly cloudy so passengers couldn’t really see much of the Australian continent below however as the plane descended to land at Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney the suburbs were clearly visible below. It was a smooth landing and finally the BRIDGE participants had finally arrived in Australia. But that wasn’t that the end of the journey. It was time for Immigration and Customs and then transfer to the domestic terminal for the next flight o Melbourne, an hour away to the south. Participants had no problems with either Immigration or Customs so that was a relief as they really had to rush to make the connection to the Melbourne flight. There was a lot of rushing and shouting and moving ahead because the flight to Melbourne was almost ready to leave. Thanks to Qantas ground staff and the participants’ willingness to hurry that they made the flight and we soon on their way to Melbourne.

The group landed in Melbourne at 11.00am and were met by Aaron O’Shannessy, Manager, Study Tours & Exchanges from the Asia Education Foundation and his assistant Wawan, an Indonesian working in Melbourne. Luggage was collected and within minutes they were on the coach and heading on the Tullamarine Freeway to the Ibis Hotel Melbourne quite close to Melbourne University. Check in was easy and finally participants could rest and sleep. Aaron issued the all participants some maps, some money and a phone card. Instead of resting, many of them headed straight out to explore the city.

Day Three - March 11
Alarms rang in every BRIDGE room at the Hotel IBIS Melbourne at 6.15am. It was time to start the first full day in Australia for the 30 BRIDGE participants.

Breakfast was a noisy affair with nasi goreng by far the most popular dish being served closely followed by vegemite on toast. Participants certainly had good appetites for the Aussie breakfast at the hotel but besides eating, the group spent a lot of time taking photographs of other people eating their breakfasts.

Knowing that jam karet is not really accepted in Australia, the participants were all ready and waiting in Reception at 8am, in fact for many, before 8am. That was great to see and it is obvious that these BRIDGE participants are a keen and enthusiastic group. The walk to Melbourne University and the offices of the Asia Education Foundation took about 20 minutes with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings causing some problems. Participants were quite amazed at the traffic conditions including the way that Australian motorists obey traffic lights and signs. However they did see a car accident on their first evening in Melbourne so not all motorists obey signs and lights. Participants also noticed that there are very few motorbikes on the streets.

The walk in the cool morning weather (about 17 degrees and sunny with a cool breeze) seemed to freshen up all participants. They arrived bright and breezy at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre and the Asia Education Foundation offices in Swanston Street within the Melbourne University complex by 8.30am. Aaron was waiting for them and before they knew it they found themselves in the AEF lecture hall, the Yasuko Myer Room.

The first session was titled ‘An Introduction: Australian Education Context’ and was run by Rob Skillern from the Hawthorn Language Institute. The participants looked at education in Australia and the various components that make up the educational diversity in Australia and within Australian states and territories themselves.

Morning tea, a favorite part of the Australian work-day, preceded a visit to an Australian primary school. Participants traveled by bus to Pascoe Vale South Primary School about 20 minutes from the Melbourne University. Participants were given tours of the school led by students who described the school in great detail and who were so helpful and kind. They answered questions and had a lot of fun with the BRIDGE participants.

Several of the participants had the opportunity to chat one-to-one with some of the young students. Be sure to listen to KGI to hear them talking to each other.

After the tours and discussions with the students and some of the teachers, participants were invited to have lunch with the school staff in their staffroom. During lunchtime, many questions asked and many interesting facts emerged regarding Pascoe Vale South Primary School in particular. The school’s One Student One Laptop policy caused a lot of interest amongst participants as was the idea of joined classes for example Grade 2 and 3 composite classrooms with two teachers and around 60 students. Lunch consisted of sandwiches and for many of the participants it was actually the first time they had ever eaten a sandwich. So between sandwiches and chatter, a lot of fun was had and a lot of information was taken in. Many thanks to the school and the staff for making everyone so welcome.

Participants returned to the Asia Education Foundation by bus for a debriefing by Rob Skillern. Issues raised at the Pascoe Vale Primary School were discussed and further questions asked about the educational systems in Victoria an other parts of Australia. The visit to the school certainly raised interest in the schools that these participants are going to early next week. Their schools will not be primary schools but would be high schools both junior (SMP) and senior (SMA/SMK) levels. It was terrific however to see a typical Australian primary school (SD) as it gave some idea of how young students are taught and looked after in Australia.

The day finished off with a treat by going to a halal Thai restaurant in the city. Delicious! Once again it was an event where Indonesian participants tried something for the very first time - Thai food!

Day Four - March 12

The day started off with a very informative presentation by Belinda Ensor, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne. The topics Belinda presented were to do with Australian history. The Indonesian participants were very interested in the history of Australia from settlement in 1788 to the present day and their questions flowed freely.

After lunch at Nando's (spicy chicken) nearby the university, participants headed off on a tour of the city by both tram and on foot. The highlight of this City Cirlce Tram was the Eureka Tower, the tallest building in Melbourne. They went right to the top for a wonderful view over Melbourne and surrounding suburbs.

Day Five - March 13
Friday the 13th, a supposedly ‘bad luck’ day, was in reality a good day for the BRIDGE participants because it was the day when they first met their partners. This was supposed to happen at this first workshop session but the participants first met their partners at breakfast at the Ibis Hotel. In fact they clicked immediately and these strong partner to partner bonds went on to last for the rest of the week.

Workshop sessions for the day were mainly to do with getting to know their partners bettervthrough a series of activities including questionnaires, presentation and discussion of items that participants thought symbolized their own countries, and even a song, a KGI favorite ‘G’day G’day’.

Day Six - March 14

Saturday, March 14th, meant computer training for the 60 participants. Much of the success of BRIDGE depends on the sister schools, and these participant pairs setting up wikispaces and being able to work with them. The staff and students of the sister-schools need to stay in contact with each other once the Indonesian participants have returned to Indonesia. Their students will be using this wikispace technology to communicate directly with each other across the oceans - a BRIDGE between the students and their teachers and schools! The day was fairly intense with participants working to follow the setting up of their wikispaces under the guidance of Lisa Hayman, Manager, ICT, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and Aaron from AEF.

Day Seven - March 15

The final day of training continued with the ICT - wikispaces and internet. It was amazing to see just how much the participants, both Australian and Indonesian, learnt in only two days with Lisa and her team. The
co-operative nature of all participants has been fantastic and one of the main reasons for the success of the whole program in Melbourne.

Days 8 to 18 - patricipants are now out in their sister-schools in West Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Captial Territory.

Check the June 2009 KGI magazine for more details of Days 8 to 18 of BRIDGE in Australia.